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Twenty-One
Talulah was so caught up in the afterglow of a wonderful evening spent sitting on the shore of the lake, watching the sun go down with Brant, that it took her a moment to snap out of that heady, euphoric zone when she returned home at seven thirty and found a beige Altima in her drive. At first, she thought the car was sitting empty. But as she pulled past it to reach the garage, the driver lifted her head, and by the time she’d parked, Averil had gotten out and taken her little boy from his booster seat in back.
Talulah felt the smile she’d been wearing for the past several hours slip from her face, and a lump grew in the pit of her stomach. “Averil.”
“Surprise!” Averil said with an uncomfortable chuckle. “Sorry to just...show up. It probably would’ve been less awkward to call, but I felt it was only right to pay you a visit.”
Talulah could still taste the kiss Brant had given her when he’d walked her to her car. Because she knew how Averil would feel about their being together, guilt washed over her as she knelt to speak to Averil’s child. “This is your little boy? I mean, I know it is. I saw him at the funeral. What a cutie!”
Averil ruffled his hair. “Yeah, this is Mitch. Can you say hi, buddy?”
“Hi,” he mumbled shyly, staring at his feet.
Talulah tilted up his chin. “I can see so much of you in him,” she told Averil.
Averil continued to smooth his hair. “He looks a lot more like his daddy than he does me.”
“Where does his daddy live?”
“Cash is in California, doing his own thing.” She sighed. “We don’t hear from him very often.”
It’d been so long since Talulah had looked Averil square in the face that she couldn’t help noticing the slight changes a decade and a half had wrought in her former friend—the crow’s-feet starting to form at her eyes, the faint smile lines around her mouth, the few silver strands of hair mixed in with the brown. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out for the two of you. Divorce is never easy. Where’d you meet him?”
Averil didn’t seem comfortable holding Talulah’s gaze and watched her own fingers move through her son’s hair as she responded. “At Montana State. He was on the baseball team. I thought he was such a good catch—pun intended,” she said with the quirky expression Talulah remembered so well. “But he was a player all the way around.”
Despite their differences since the botched wedding, Talulah hated the thought of Averil being hurt. “He liked the ladies?”
She nodded. “And they liked him.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I’m mostly over it,” she said with a shrug and glanced at the house. “Do you mind if we come in for a few minutes? I think it’s time you and I had a talk.”
Talulah’s mouth went so dry she could hardly speak. She was expecting Brant in an hour, as soon he’d helped take care of the boat and grabbed a shower. She’d been planning to shower herself and then bake a carrot cake, since he hadn’t gotten either of the two she’d made for him this week. But how could she deny Averil a few minutes, when this was the first friendly overture she’d made in fourteen years? “Um... Sure. Of course. The house is a bit of a mess... I’ve been...packing.”
Averil made a face. “I don’t care about that.”
“Okay.” Talulah withdrew her house key, and as they started up the walk, Averil gestured at the cardboard-covered window.
“I’m sorry about what happened, by the way. And I’m aware of the rumors that’ve been going around. But I want you to know it wasn’t me who threw that rock.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” She knew Averil had been unhappy with her, but unhappy enough to do something like that? This was the friend who, besides Jane, had been closest to her. The three of them had spent almost every Friday night together. Talulah had even received her first kiss at Averil’s house—and not from Charlie. Allen Bond, a boy in their Spanish class, had snuck over to play spin the bottle when they were only thirteen. Talulah had her first period that same week, and it was Averil who’d shielded her all the way to the girls’ bathroom and then gone to the principal’s office to call Talulah’s mom.
Talulah had so many fond memories of Averil, including the planning and shopping they’d done together for the wedding. They’d been excited to become sisters as well as best friends—until Talulah had ruined it, of course. But Averil was part of the reason Talulah hadn’t been able to back out sooner. Their friendship had held her fast. And once shedidbreak the engagement, she’d felt so adrift she’d grabbed on to two different men, one after the other, searching for an anchor—her place in the world—and wound up realizing they weren’t right for her, either.
She’d had to learn how to make it on her own, separate from her family and her hometown and her longtime friends, and without the security of being with a man who was in love with her. Now she’d accomplished that, but she was still so traumatized by her early foray into adulthood that she wasn’t convinced she could promiseanyoneforever. She already knew she’d never felt anything like what she felt for Brant—that level of excitement, the deep satisfaction that came from just looking at him. But she had no idea whether it would or could last. She’d have to give up so much to be with him, only to find herself right back in the same town she’d left. And he could easily “bail out,” as he put it, before things gottooserious, all of which meant the decisions she was making were more difficult than they should’ve been.
Would it be a mistake to risk losing Averil again for two weeks with Brant? Or did what she felt for Brant deserve a chance, no matter what it did to her odds of reconciling with Averil?
“Would you like something to drink? A glass of wine?” Talulah asked, unlocking the door and flipping on the light. “I have some orange juice for Mitch.”
“That’d be great. Thanks.”
Averil gestured at the settee in the living room. “Have a seat. I’m going to run up and change, but I’ll make it quick.”
“You’ve been swimming?” Averil seemed to notice her bikini for the first time. It’d been dark outside, and her mind was probably on other things. After all, showing up here meant she was breaking ranks with Charlie and the rest of the family—which wouldn’t be easy to do.
“Jane and I went to the lake.” Talulah held her breath, hoping Averil would let it go at that. A lot of people went up to the lake to hang out, swim and barbecue. But if Averil knew that Jane’s sister and Kurt were starting to see each other, she might’ve made the connection to the Elways’ boat, and Brant, which was why Talulah hadn’t mentioned Kate’s name.
